The Heartland Institute (https://www.heartland.org) recently published a policy study of air quality and industrial sand (frac sand) mining.Authored by Isaac Orr and Mark Krumenacher, the study is the sixth and final entry in a series of six studies published by The Heartland Institute addressing industrial sand mining.

Part 1 of the study offers an introduction to particulate matter and its health implications.Part 2 presents the findings of several air monitoring studies conducting in recent years.These studies used equipment and sampling methodologies approved by EPA and NIOSH.Part 3 explains the limitations of less scientifically legitimate reports that attempt to quantify concentrations of particulate matter in areas near industrial sand operations.While Part 2 presents studies that have concluded industrial sand mining does not generate significant quantities of respirable crystalline silica dust, Part 4 examines why that may be the case.Part 5 offers concluding remarks.

The Heartland Institute is attached and reproduced with the permission of The Heartland Institute.

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the finalization of its rule setting a new national ozone standard. The rule lowers the standard to 70 parts per billion (ppb) from the current standard of 75 ppb. This announcement comes four years after President Obama asked the EPA to withdraw the rule before finalization. At the time the EPA seemed to be leaning towards a standard of 65 ppb and the President's decision to delay the rule was a victory for industry. Today's announcement of a standard of 70 ppb is marginally better than an even lower standard, but it will still have a negative impact on industry across the country. As the EPA pushes for ever lowering standards they continue to close in on background levels of ozone, meaning compliance becomes less and less realistic for not only industry but the rest of the country as well. Although the rule is not the worst case scenario, the news is not positive for the mining community nor industries in other sectors.